10 Ways to Use Your Money to Be Happier

Our guide to spending for happiness outlines ten evidence-backed ways New Zealanders can turn money into a better life (and not just a bigger balance).

Updated 31 July 2026

Summary

In 1978, three psychologists tracked down 22 lottery winners to answer a simple question: did the money make them happier? The finding became one of the most famous in psychology.
Within months, the winners were no happier than a control group of their neighbours - and they took less pleasure in everyday things like breakfast, a chat with a friend or buying clothes. The jackpot had reset their baseline, and ordinary life felt flat by comparison.
New Zealanders spent over $1.6 billion on Lotto NZ games in the year to December 2025, per Lotto's financial statements - more than $30 million a week - chasing a transformation the original research suggests may not last.
The point of this summary is that almost all of us, Lotto players or not, manage our money on the same quiet assumption that more of it is the plan. This means investing more, spending more, buying larger and better.
Our view is that money absolutely can buy happiness; however, many New Zealanders tend to spend it on things that don't work, while missing out on the things that do.
Decades of studies by economists and psychologists point to a consistent theme for making money make a difference. Best of all, almost none of it requires being wealthy, and most of it can start this week.
This guide was inspired by Finding and Funding a Good Life, an outstanding video essay by Canadian portfolio manager Ben Felix; we suggest you watch it.
Our list below is published specifically for the needs of New Zealanders - our incomes, our housing market and other specifics.

Our List of Using Your Money to Be Happier Covers:

Disclaimer

This guide is general information only and isn't financial advice. Everyone's circumstances differ - the research describes averages, and you are not an average.
All illustrative calculations use stated assumptions; check current rates before making decisions.

Know This: This Isn't a Self-Help Guide

This guide doesn't ask you to think positively, want less or believe your way to a better life. It's a personal finance guide and challenges where your money currently goes, using the best available evidence on what spending delivers happiness and what doesn't.
Every dollar you earn gets allocated to something - housing, transport, stuff, experiences, other people, your future. Most of us inherited those allocations from habit, marketing and what everyone around us does, and we rarely re-examine them.
The items below are a re-examination, not a set of rules - keep what fits your life, discard what doesn't, and treat the research as a second opinion on your spending rather than an instruction.

Background Insights: Important Research Covering Money and Happiness

An American-led study of 1.7 million people across 164 countries in 2018 found day-to-day happiness stops improving once income reaches roughly US$75,000 to US$112,000 in today's money, and overall life satisfaction levels off around US$105,000 to US$137,000.
A 2023 collaboration between researchers Matthew Killingsworth and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman refined this - happier people keep gaining a little as income rises, while unhappier people plateau - but for everyone, the gains are small.
This suggests that doubling your income increases your happiness level only slightly. Converted at the current exchange rate, that's roughly NZ$130,000 to NZ$235,000 as a general guide (even though America has higher incomes and prices than New Zealand, suggesting the numbers may be lower).
What's important is that the research suggests a comfortable six-figure household income covers most of the happiness money can directly buy.
With the median New Zealand salary of around $70,000, earning more genuinely helps most households - the trap isn't ambition, it's assuming that earning more is the whole plan and never asking what the money is for.

Ten Ways to Use Your Money to Be Happier

The list below starts with how you earn and spend day to day, moves through the three biggest purchases most New Zealanders make (the home, the holiday house and the vehicle), and finishes with your health and your future self. None of it requires a high income - several items cost nothing - and the list works as a set: the money saved by the "don't buy" items funds the "do more" items. Read it in order, or jump straight to whatever decision you're currently facing.

Work out your "enough" number - then stop paying for "more"

Past a comfortable income, extra money usually arrives with extra costs - longer hours, more stress, less sleep, less time with the people you like.
Our view is simple - decades of research suggest those costs quietly cancel the gains. Worse, the enjoyment of extra money fades fast - the pay rise that thrilled you in March feels invisible by June if you've fallen into lifestyle creep.

For many households throughout New Zealand right now, the problem runs the other way. The "enough" number sits above what's coming in given the cost of living crisis and general economic uncertainty. However, a written number you'd like to earn turns "more" into a target with a finish line. You can adjust your life and spending accordingly, rather than spend pay increases (if and when you get them) without an action plan.

MoneyHub Founder Christopher Walsh shares his view: "MoneyHub hears from readers every week - people earning $180,000+ who feel stretched, and people on a fraction of that (such as financially robust retirees and younger FIRE followers) who feel in control. My view is simple - decide what your money is for by listing what you value and what's important to you. Thinking harder about your financial goals will likely make most money decisions easier".

Know This: Your "Enough" Number Is Not an Argument Against Ambition

If your career has built-in progression - teachers and nurses moving up collective agreement pay steps, take every step - nothing in this guide suggests declining them even if the progression can mean more responsibility.
The current labour market is problematic as restructures continue across both the public and private sectors. Standing still is now a risk in itself - employees who stop upskilling and stop progressing are often the most exposed when cuts come. Staying ambitious and employable is a form of job security, not a contradiction of your "enough" number.
What working out your 'enough' number changes is what happens next: It flags the trades worth declining - the ones paid for with real hours, stress or family time, such as the second job for extra money when you wouldn't need it, or the 60-hour/week promotion into a role you'd give up more than you receive.
Overall, determining a number you're comfortable with helps you decide what to do with future pay rises. You can decide what you allocate to KiwiSaver, general investments, savings, or additional mortgage repayments before lifestyle creep quietly spends it for you.

Buy back your time

Research over the past decade consistently finds that people who trade money for time are happier, less stressed and more satisfied with their relationships than people who trade time for money - and the effect isn't limited to high earners.

Make it happen:

Consider efficient supermarket shopping: Click and collect is free at Woolworths, New World and PAK'n'SAVE and saves around an hour, and eliminates the risk and costs of aisle impulse buys - a win-win for anyone wanting to save money and time at the supermarket.
If you have spare money and want to get an immediate ROI: We suggest outsourcing tasks you don't enjoy if you believe the cost is worth it. Examples include getting a regular house clean with a trusted cleaner, help in the garden or other assistance with tasks you would like help with.

MoneyHub Founder Christopher Walsh shares his view: "As I get older, I'm changing my behaviour for the better. In the past, paying someone to do a job I could do myself went against my instincts as I am well aware of the value of a dollar. However, the best regular money I spend now goes on avoiding hassle and things I don't enjoy.

This means booking direct flights, which saves hours of extra flying (and avoids connection risks), outsourcing repetitive tasks to high-end AI tools and/or MoneyHub team members who want to take them on, and cancelling things I don't miss. I challenge everyone to look at where they spend their time outside of their work and challenge the value they get from it. This is not being idealistic - we spend a lot of time on things we don't need to, so disrupting bad habits helps to shape better behaviour".

Go small and often and focus on experiences over things

Media stories, such as this 2019 RNZ article, continue to cite research confirming that experiences make people happier than possessions. We adapt to objects within weeks - the new sofa becomes furniture, the new phone becomes a phone - but experiences get shared, stay unique, and turn into the stories we tell about ourselves.

For most people, frequency beats intensity, meaning many small good moments (such as experiences) outperform the positive feeling of one giant purchase. Because anticipation is part of the payoff, booking things in advance is genuinely free happiness - you look forward to something in future and feel positive when it happens.

Our View: Many New Zealand homes are awash with too much stuff. It sits there; you need to move it around, and if it's financed (via a credit card or long-term finance card), it creates long-term debt for those who can't clear balances.

Experiences generally produce more lasting happiness than status-driven purchases, particularly when they are shared with other people. The best thing is that experiences don't need to cost a lot of money. Examples include Friday night fish and chips at the beach (outside of winter), getting involved in Park Run, visiting a night market, taking a road trip and staying at a DOC campsite for less than the price of a takeaway dinner, or booking the ferry crossing you've never done. We suggest booking something for next month today - the lead-up is part of what you're paying for.

Christopher Walsh shares his view: "I've done expensive trips with really nice hotels, and stayed at cheap hotels and taken long-distance buses between cities overseas. The memories don't sort by price. Some of my favourite experiences (travelling in my 20s in Asia and the Middle East, walking around Mexico City for hours on end, exploring Europe, and watching comedy shows in the USA) continue to help me learn. I've never been a buying things person - I continue to book in advance for experiences that I believe will be high yield. "

Ask yourself: what was your favourite memory from last summer? Did it come from something you bought, or something you did?

Invest in your friendships and activities

The longest-running study of adult life (as outlined in this WEF article) - more than 85 years and counting - keeps producing the same headline finding - the quality of your relationships is the best predictor of long-term health and happiness. It's better than money, career success or cholesterol.

The problem is that when budgets tighten, social spending is usually the first thing cut, because it feels optional. The dinner gets cancelled, the wedding invite gets declined, the sports club membership quietly lapses.

Stats NZ's 2023 data, as reported by The Spinoff in 2026, found that 44% of New Zealanders felt lonely at some point in the previous four weeks, with around 4% lonely most or all of the time, and that younger New Zealanders consistently reported the highest rates.

The reality is that friendships aren't free - they cost dinners, petrol, flights, club fees and babysitters - but on the evidence, they're the best value spending you have, and cutting them back because of the cost is arguably the most expensive saving you can make.

Our View: Club fees - badminton, bowls, touch, tramping - often run $5 to $10 a week, arguably the cheapest regular time with other people money can buy. You don't need to meet friends at restaurants - a beach, a park picnic or your own kitchen table does the same job for a fraction of the price.

Be wary about buying a longer commute

There is a common trade thousands of New Zealanders make every year - a bigger house, 30+ minutes further out. In Auckland and Wellington, "drive until you qualify" is often the only way the deposit maths works, but we believe there are benefits from living closer to where you want to be.

We adapt to extra floor area within months - American research found bigger houses don't lift life satisfaction at all, partly because someone nearby always builds bigger or better. However, we never fully adapt to commuting in traffic; even after years, congested commuters arrive at work with elevated stress hormones.

Calculating an extended commute can be alarming. An extra 30 minutes each way is roughly 250 hours a year - over six working weeks in the car, at the median wage of $35 an hour. That's about $8,750 of time every year for a median income earner. Furthermore, over a 25-year mortgage, it's more than $200,000 of time at today's wage. You also need to add petrol for the extra distance and the potential need for a second car because you're further out of town. Running an extra car typically costs $5,000 to $10,000 a year once depreciation, insurance, rego, WOF, servicing, fuel, and tyres are factored in.

Our View: Before you offer on a house, drive the commute at 7:45am on a Tuesday, not 2pm on a Sunday. Challenge yourself as to whether the address forces a second car, and take into consideration hybrid or remote flexibility properly - two office days is a different equation to five.

The trade works in both directions - British research finds people who commute longer have lower job satisfaction.

Ask yourself: Would you take a 5% pay cut to be 15 minutes from work? Why does the same trade feel different when it's wrapped in a house?

Buy a home for the right reasons

Studies comparing owners and renters on similar incomes, housing quality and health find homeowners are no happier - and in some cases slightly less happy, because they may spend more time on maintenance and less on leisure. A home also fixes you to a location - as many New Zealanders consider their options overseas, buying a home (and signing up for the associated costs) is not always the best decision.

Warning: Before we go further, the state of rental property, property management and the rights of tenants is arguably not where it should be when compared with overseas markets and tenant rights. This Reddit post from July 2026 is an honest account of the frustrations renters face and is published here to make readers aware of the limitations.

Our View: We're not saying that renting beats buying - New Zealand isn't Europe where renting is cultural and protected. Renting here can mean insecure tenure, inspections, disruptions, hassle, and moving costs; ownership genuinely buys control, stability, and the right to put a nail in the wall.

Those things do support wellbeing. Our point is that potential homeowners should buy for security, control and roots, not because owning will transform how happy you are.

The reality is home ownership is very expensive, and it risks trapping you - this Reddit post explains observations from homeowners all over New Zealand. A home you can afford, near the people and places you love, beats a trophy that owns you.

Christopher Walsh shares his view: "Having lived in Queenstown, Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin, my experience is that the home itself mattered far less to my happiness than what was around it and who I could easily see. What I notice reviewing mortgages at MoneyHub is that the happiest owners borrowed less than the bank offered - they still had money left for travel, sport and people. The most stressed took the maximum at the market peak and now describe their home as a weight. Buy the home that funds a life, not one that consumes it".

Ask yourself: If you owned your current rental outright tomorrow, what would actually change about your daily life?

Rent a holiday house before you buy one (or make the decision to see more of New Zealand and/or the world on your terms)

The dream bach or crib is really a bet that your happiest moments will happen in one fixed location, forever. Sometimes that's true. But happiness lives in the details - the Friday crawl out of the city, the maintenance list that greets you, and whether the numbers genuinely stack up - together, these make second homes a challenge. In the 1990s it's arguable they did - but as we approach the 2030s, we're not so sure the economics and practicality are there.

Christopher Walsh shares his view: "My parents bought a holiday home in the late 1980s in a tiny town called Waikaia. I enjoyed going for weekends and the summers, and it was great to share it with grandparents and other family members. However, it was a huge time investment. Overall, it worked for my parents because we lived in Invercargill, and it was good to get away and work on projects such as planting fruit trees, putting up fencing and having summers by the river and exploring the hills around. However, it was sold after 20 years, and I haven't been inclined to buy a second home myself.

I believe that when you're young, e.g. under 60, you can holiday anywhere and it's the time to do it. There's so much of New Zealand to see. I was at Fieldays in June 2026 and was pleased to see a Top 10 Holiday Parks exhibiting - a reminder that there's so much close by that doesn't come with a rates bill, regional council charges, insurance, lawn mowing costs, repair bills and general risk".

Ask yourself: Picture the full bach weekend from packing the car to unpacking it. Which parts do you actually love - and could you buy just those parts? The age of buying a second home to impress someone or have it as a box to tick is over - the costs are too high to justify such a decision unless you've got investments and/or cash flow to make it work.

Drive what actual millionaires drive

When researchers ask people how driving a luxury vehicle would feel, people predict joy. When they measure how luxury vehicle owners actually feel while driving, it's no different from anyone else. The wealthy seem to know it - long-running US research on millionaires found the median price paid for their most recent vehicle was about US$31,000, and the most common makes were Toyota, Honda and Ford.

Our View: Pay for what you'll actually notice - reliability, safety, comfort and running costs - and skip the luxury premium. If vehicles are genuinely your passion, that's a hobby, and you can invest in the car you want. But if you're buying a luxury car on finance to 'live your best life', that's a distressed financial decision.

Christopher Walsh shares his view: "Reviewing car finance deals is some of the least glamorous work MoneyHub does, and the pattern never changes - the unhappiest money in New Zealand is double-digit interest on a vehicle worth less every month. Nobody I've met regrets buying the reliable three-year-old Toyota they got second hand from a Toyota dealership. Plenty regret the $70,000+ ute when the first repayment lands. Would you still want your dream car if no one could ever see you in it?"

Fund your sleep, food and movement

Money spent on the basics of a working body is the highest-return spending there is, because it upgrades every single hour of your day. The evidence is strong - sleeping less than seven hours is linked to weight gain, depression, illness and accidents; regular exercise measurably reduces anxiety and low mood while boosting energy; and diet and mood are more connected than most people realise.

The trick is judging this spending by cost per hour of use, not the upfront cost. A $3,000 mattress over ten years costs about 10 cents an hour for something you use eight hours a day - people agonise over it, then think nothing of $25 a week on streaming services they're too tired to watch.

The same logic applies to exercise - the ordinary $20-a-week gym five minutes away that you actually attend beats the flash one 25 minutes away that you don't visit - our view is that the commute rule applies to everything, gyms included.

Make it happen: If you're not sleeping well because your mattress is bad, it's time to consider upgrading. Consider joining a gym, pool or sports club near where you live. If you can see the value and have the money, spend a little more on food that makes you feel good the next morning. Every dollar here quietly pays out across work, mood, relationships and future health bills. We suggest deleting apps like Uber Eats and other delivery services.

Spend against your future regrets

Large surveys of regrets find a consistent pattern - over the long run, people regret the things they didn't do far more than the things they did. The trip never taken, the course never started, the visit never made. Our view is simple - the "boldness" regrets sting hardest and linger longest. The other big category is quieter - foundational regrets like undersaving and neglecting health, built from small, comfortable choices that compound for decades.

We suggest automating the boring foundations so future-you has options - KiwiSaver set to the right fund and contribution rate, and an emergency fund building quietly.

Savings and KiwiSaver are stored time - the ability to say yes to the trip, the career change or the shorter working week later. Automate them first, then spend the rest on the list above without guilt.

Turn the List into an Actionable Plan (in 15 minutes)

Most financial plans start with "what are your goals?" and accept the first answer. Decision research shows that's a mistake - when people list their own goals, they typically miss almost half of the ones they later agree matter most. Fix that before you adjust how you spend your money:

Write down your goals: Ten minutes, no help, everything you want your money to do.
Now double the list: Studies show this one challenge surfaces goals as important as anything on your first attempt.
Run six prompts and add anything they trigger: enjoyment (what feels good), engagement (what makes you lose track of time), relationships (who matters), meaning (what's bigger than you), accomplishment (what you want to get better at), and health.
Circle three: Put a dollar figure and a date next to each.
Automate or book them this week (assuming they're affordable and you won't get into debt by doing so) - then build the rest of your budget around what's left.

Christopher Walsh shares his view: "I've overseen MoneyHub reviewing just about every financial product in New Zealand, and the pattern I keep seeing has nothing to do with products. The people who feel wealthy are rarely the ones with the flashiest stuff - they're the ones who own their time.

The best money I spend every year goes on travel with people I care about, the events I want to attend, and paying to avoid jobs I hate. The spending I remember least almost always arrived in a box. Nothing in this guide requires a high income; it requires deciding what the money is for before someone else decides for you."

Our Conclusion

Almost everything in this guide runs against the default settings of New Zealand money culture - the bigger house, the newer vehicle, the longer commute to afford both, and the quiet assumption that the next pay rise will be the one that fixes things.

The evidence is remarkably consistent that those defaults don't deliver, and that the spending that does - time, people, experiences and health - is mostly cheap and sometimes free.

That's also why this guide holds up in a downturn. If you're short of money, the research is on your side - the highest-return happiness spending was never the expensive kind. If money is comfortable, the challenge is sharper - work out your "enough" number, automate the foundations, and point what's left at the things on this list before lifestyle creep allocates it for you.

This isn't self-help, and it doesn't ask you to want less. It asks a more useful question - of every dollar you'll earn this year, how many are going to things the evidence says you'll adapt to within weeks (like buying 'wants' you don't need), and how many to the things you'll still be glad about in ten years?

Frequently Asked Questions

Our FAQs below cover the questions New Zealanders most commonly ask about money and happiness - whether it can genuinely be bought, what to do when money is tight, and where homes, possessions and savings fit in. If something isn't covered, the related guides further below go deeper on each topic.

Can money really buy happiness?

Yes - but how you spend matters far more than how much you have once the essentials are covered. Money directed at time, experiences, other people, health and relationships reliably lifts wellbeing. Money directed at status and upgrades mostly doesn't, because we adapt to them within weeks - as the lottery winners found out fastest of all.

What's the happiest way to spend $100 in New Zealand?

Based on the research - something you do rather than own, shared with someone you like, booked in advance so you get the anticipation as well as the day itself. A close second is spending it on someone else entirely.

What if money is genuinely tight right now?

Start with the items that cost nothing - time with people, time outside, the cheap and free experiences, and writing down your "enough" number so future pay rises arrive with a job to do. If you continue to spend more than you earn and your budget genuinely doesn't balance, our Budgeting Guide and the free MoneyTalks helpline are the right starting points - this guide will still be here when there's breathing room.

Does earning more money make me happier?

Up to a point, genuinely yes - especially if you're currently below a comfortable income, which is why nothing in this guide argues against ambition or career progression. Past that point, the research consistently finds that the gains shrink while the costs (hours, stress, less time with people you like) keep coming in full force. The trap isn't wanting more - it's never deciding what the money is for.

Is it wrong to enjoy buying things?

Not at all - this guide is for a reference point only; it's not a set of rules. Some items you buy (a bike, a barbecue, a guitar, decent boots) deliver long-term experiences. The trap is expecting an object to change how you feel about your life - it won't, and the sooner you allocate your money with that knowledge, the further your money goes.

Doesn't this guide argue against saving and investing?

No - undersaving is one of the most common regrets people report, precisely because it quietly steals future options. Savings and KiwiSaver are stored time - the ability to say yes to the trip, the career change or the shorter working week later. Automate them first, then spend the rest on the list above without guilt.

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